Jeff Notvitzky says USADA is ‘still evaluating’ Paulo Costa case

If you were hoping to see undefeated middleweight knockout artist Paulo Costa back in the cage soon, well, you might have some waiting to do.

According to UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky, Paulo Costa is still being investigated by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after being fined $9,333.33 by the New York State Athletic Commission for an unknown violation.

“I don’t have any comment on that,” Novitzky said on a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered (transcript via MMA Fighting). “My understanding is that New York has issued him a fine or a sanction and that USADA is still evaluating this. It’s not until cases are adjudicated and resolved that we comment on them. So I’m not gonna comment on that one right now.”

Paulo Costa has attributed this situation to stomach medication he was recently taking, and claims this is what nixed his previously scheduled bout with UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero.

“[Romero] came back from a reality show and could finally sign the contract,” Costa told Combate recently. “(But) on the same week the New York Athletic Commission asked me to talk about a stomach medication I had used. And they said: ‘For you to talk about this, unfortunately, you won’t be able to fight. You will be ineligible for this fight because you have to notify us about what you used for your stomach.’ It was a simple medication, Plasil. That’s not doping. You take it when you have stomach pain. So, because of that, I didn’t understand it too, but they said I couldn’t fight, that I had to figure this out first.”

Stay tuned for updates on Paulo Costa when more information becomes available.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/24/2019.